Friday 15 January 2010

Review: Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious.

You know the old saying, "The candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long," don't you? In the classic film Blade Runner, the phrase is uttered to Roy Batty by his creator, Dr Eldon Tyrell, in answer to a query regarding a short life-span. "And you have burned very, very brightly," he says, before having his head crushed and eyes gouged out.

And so, in the drawer of extraordinarily bright candles, pop-music-wise, might I draw your attention to the cream of the crop in Iceland (where candles burn everywhere, by the way), a short-lived Reykjavik supergroup known as Sometime.

Formed in (I believe) early 2007 by veterans of the Reykjavik music scene, they released but one album and a handful of singles, played just a slew of local shows, and then, inexplicably, packed up their bags and went quietly into that good night. However, they quickly became legendary, and their music lives on even though the four of them went their separate ways. It's simple to see how they gained such notoreity during their brief life-span. First, they had Danni, a hyper-technical and disciplined drummer from the indie rock band Maus; DJ Dice, from Iceland's largest rap group Quarashi; a veritable super-producer, Curver, who also performed with Einor Orn (you may remember him as Bjork's sidekick in the Sugarcubes) in Ghostdigital (who I will be highlighting in a future entry); and the beautiful and talented jazz singer Diva de la Rosa, who's voice can alternate between sharp and soft with the deftness of an expertly wielded strop razor.

I am here today to tell you about their sole album, the challengingly named Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious (henceforth referred to as SCFXPD).

To put things into a rather simplistic spin, the first word that pops into my head when I think of SCFXPD is "fun." The opening track, "Getting Ready," does just that - it gets you ready for the hour-long aural ride you're about to take. Rolling along a bit like a freight train, its deceptively monotonous rhythm pulls you with it, introducing multi-layered tracks as it chugs along, with sampled string plucking, an energetic snare, otherworldly sound effects, some brilliant scratch-work by DJ Dice, and, floating over everything is de la Rosa's unearthly vocals - and she's scatting! Like I said, "fun."

And then we have as a follow-up the love song "Heart of Spades." "Do you want to follow me around?" asks de la Rosa. Yes, at this point we certainly do, and we follow along on this glorious paean to the undecided future of a love affair that has, decidedly, turned into something a bit deeper, a bit more serious. "You take your chance or you'll never know," she purrs. It's lovely, without being too mawkish, and the electronic soundscape swirls around you like a meteor shower.

Things turn a little mean and spooky with the dark and jangled "Catch Me If You Can." Documenting the mental goings-on of a lady who's fed up with an abusive relationship, it's certainly the most hard-edged track on SCFXPD, and you can hear it in de la Rosa's voice as she confronts the "big and tough" man: "You can beat me up, huh? Catch me if you can." At the end of the track, she intones, "Don't you worry about me, don't you worry about me. Look at yourself."

Other stand-out songs include the slow-building (and rightful heir to Malcolm McClaren's "Buffalo Gals"'s scratching glory) "Take A Ride," "Faeri Fjöllin," the only song on the album sung in Icelandic and meaning, I think, Fallen Fairy (which would make sense - the Icelandic people are very much in-tune with the Hidden Folk), and the French track "Samedi," in which the multi-lingual de la Rosa has, apparently, woken up and knows not where:

"Je me réveille ce matin
Mais je ne sais pas ou
Endormie dans un sofa
Hier."

There is also an excellent and quite dreamy cover of The Penguins' 1954 doo-wop track "Earth Angel." It really must be heard to be believed. If I ever end up getting married, I'd definitely consider playing this song for the first dance!

So there you have it. Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious is fun, infectious, dazzling, and as full of glittery moments as Times Square on New Year's Eve. True, Sometime didn't last too long; in fact, I'd go so far as to say they were around for a criminally short time. But they left us this, and I hereby say that it's an astounding feat of shimmery electronica. By all means, check it out.

UPDATE (24 January 2010): I have just received word from Danni himself that not only have Sometime NOT broken up, but they are currently in the studio RIGHT NOW, busy recording their second album. Don't know about you guys, but I'm SERIOUSLY looking forward to hearing it! I now return you to the blog in progress...

And here, for your enjoyment, is Sometime performing "Catch Me If You Can." Peace out.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We´re still here working on our second album

Thomas B said...

Excellent news! Will update the entry immediately!

Anonymous said...

Hi, my friend told me that "Færi Fjöllin" means "Moving Mountains" and she is Icelander..
I'm badly want lyrics for this song.. :)